Task 4a

As I read Reader 4, it is very clear why it has been split up into sections. There is so much information that sparks different trains of thought. Coming into this module, I have been worried I wouldn't have been able to produce a strong enough question. But after speaking to various people: fellow BAPPers; past BAPPers; colleagues and friends, more and more ideas are flying around.

I decided to make two mind maps; one for the feelings I get and hope to give others when dancing and another for the feelings I get and hope to give to others when teaching. There are so many key emotions that are on both mind maps:-

The reason for doing this was simply to see where my two passions correlated. As you can see, there are quite a lot of similarities. This was really comforting to me, as I have changed career, because I am able as an educator to get the same buzz and feeling of pride as I did as a performer.

Energy

As a dancer, having a solid amount of energy is really important. You could be able to physically do all the moves and complete the choreography, but without electricity behind the movement it would be dull to watch and the moves wouldn't be as strong. However, it is important with energy to know how to control it. There is no use using all your energy in the first 5 minutes of a 45 minute show, not only will the further 40 minutes be a struggle to execute, the quality of the show would also decline - resulting in the audience losing interest. Likewise in teaching, if by break time you have burnt out, it won't take long for the students to lose interest (thats when the disruptions start to occur). A passionate, exciting teacher is much more likely to get the most of their students, than one who is sat in their chair going through the motions.

Discipline

Discipline plays a major role in both dancing and teaching. From the teachers perspective in both a dance class and a school environment; there needs to be self-discipline to plan and prepare the lessons. For the pupils, they learn skills that will help them in all aspects of life, such as: presentation- uniform and appearance of themselves and their work; perseverance - learning something new is never easy and having the discipline to keep going and pick yourself up is a vital skill; respect - developing respect for individuals in a position of authority and for their peers but also for themselves. 

Due to my change in career I thought my questions may be too vague until someone said 'draw your two passions together' - Dance and teaching. This lead me to thinking about:

 The effects of Art Therapy on children with Special Educational Needs.
Can dance benefit children in their development?

For me, dance and music are a way of releasing my emotions and expressing myself without fear of judgement. A lot of the children I work with struggle to express themselves either verbally or physically. I would like to research further into the effects of dance and music and establish if it is a way to help them in the moment or does it increase their academic abilities across other subjects or both.

One particular question from an ABBA song kept playing over in my head:

Without a song or a dance what are we?